Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles

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The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles (Latin: Archidioecesis Angelorum in California) is a particular church of the Roman Catholic Church in the western region of the United States. The archdiocese is comprised of the City of Los Angeles as well as the California counties of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura. With approximately five million professing members, the archdiocese considers itself the largest diocese in the United States in terms of congregant population.

The see was created when the Diocese of Monterey was renamed to become the conjoined Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles on July 7, 1859. It split to become the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno and the Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego on June 1, 1922. With the exponential growth of the Roman Catholic population in the region, another split was promulgated on July 11, 1936 creating the Diocese of San Diego and the present-day Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

1 Archbishop
2 Ordinaries
3 Pastoral Regions
4 Schools
5 Events
6 Lawsuits about sexual abuse by priests
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Archbishop

His Eminence Roger Cardinal Mahony is the current Archbishop of Los Angeles.

The archdiocese is led by the prelature of an archbishop, concurrently the pastor of the mother church Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The cathedral was dedicated on September 2, 2002 and replaced the former Cathedral of Saint Vibiana, damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The Archbishop of Los Angeles is concurrently the metropolitan bishop of the Province of Los Angeles of the Roman Catholic Church. Its suffragans include the dioceses of Fresno, Monterey in California, Orange in California, San Bernardino, and San Diego. The archbishop historically wielded great administrative powers over the suffragan dioceses. Today, such power is only ceremonial and kept as a tradition.

[edit] Ordinaries

[edit] Bishops of Monterey-Los Angeles

[edit] Bishops of Los Angeles-San Diego

John Joseph Cantwell, 1922 - 1936

[edit] Archbishops of Los Angeles

[edit] Pastoral Regions

The archdiocese of Los Angeles is divided into the following 5 pastoral regions, each headed by an episcopal vicar:

Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region, covering Downtown and central Los Angeles west to Malibu, south to LAX
San Fernando Pastoral Region, covering San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys.
San Gabriel Pastoral Region, covering East Los Angeles through San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys
San Pedro Pastoral Region, covering Long Beach and Southern Los Angeles County
Santa Barbara Pastoral Region, covering Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties

[edit] Schools

See List of schools in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles

[edit] Events

The L.A. Archdiocese Office of Religious Education produces the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. The largest annual event of its kind in the United States, with an attendance of approximately 38,000.

[edit] Lawsuits about sexual abuse by priests

The diocese agreed to payout 60 million dollars to settle 45 lawsuits it still faces over 450 other pending cases. According to the Associated Press a total of 22 priests were involved in the settlement with cases going as far back as the 1930's. [1]